Grand Canyon, Williams, and Flagstaff, Arizona

Visited March 31 - April 7, 2021

By Marty

Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon are the launch point for our spring/summer/fall tour of the mountain states. We start with northern Arizona, followed by Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Alberta (Canada), Idaho, and finish up in late October in southeast Oregon. We'll leave Oregon before it gets too cold (that's what we're hoping anyway) and head to Sacramento where we'll spend November thru January (ish).

In February (ish) we'll launch the final leg of our 48 state quest, heading east (via the southwest) toward the mid Atlantic states. 

The plan for our allotted eight days in northern Arizona was to spend four nights in the Grand Canyon south rim, and four nights in Flagstaff.  Even though Janell was booking four or five months in advance we couldn't secure ANY nights inside the national park for the beast (no room at the RV Inn.) I think the spring break season was a factor, along with a bunch of folks renting or buying RV's and fleeing COVID.

So we altered our plan to spend eight nights in Williams, AZ.  Williams is the "Gateway to the Grand Canyon", located on I-40 about an hour's drive from the south rim.  Rather than do two or three day trips into the park we booked two nights at the Bright Angel lodge, situated right on the rim. With an early start from Williams on Thursday we were able to spend the better part of three days enjoying the Grand Canyon.

We avoided a major delay getting into the park by heading out early Thursday morning. We were at the rim and unloading our bikes by 8:30 a.m. We chatted with a couple that evening who spent two hours in line just to get into the park (think Disneyland?)  On our way out of the park midday Saturday the back up at the park entrance was 1.6 miles long!

After arriving at the park we hopped on the bikes to pedal eight miles to Hermit's Rest, stopping at each of the view points along the way. The road to Hermit's Rest, at the western end of the park road, is open to park shuttle buses and bicycles only, so we pretty much had the road to ourselves.

I don't think of myself as a hermit, but I was ready for a rest all right!

The photos directly above and below are from the village at dusk on Thursday

Friday morning we hiked into the canyon on the South Kaibob trail. Hiking the canyon is like hiking an inverted mountain. The easy part comes first! The rule of thumb is that for every hour you hike down you should allow two hours for the much more difficult hike back up. 

The south Kaibob trail down to the Colorado River is seven miles of trail and almost 5,000 vertical feet of descent. Hiking to the river and back as a day hike is STRONGLY discouraged by the NPS. Janell and I hiked to Cedar Ridge, 1.5 miles down, and I continued on another 1.5 miles to Skeleton Point while Janell headed back up to the rim. We both made it back up!

The most vertical part of the trail is immediately below the rim with a series of switch backs. The trail was pretty crowded to start, but thinned out the further we hiked. 

So I saw the name of this point on the trail map. I thought it was an Native American name.  Once we reached this point I realized that was not the case. Duh...

 

I had to pull over for a pack train on it's way out of the canyon. The mules have the right of way.  

If Andy Warhol can make his name with Campbell's Soup cans, is a roast beef and cheese sandwich such a crazy idea? 

A sliver of the river is visible in the lower right quadrant.

View from Skeleton Point

Stopped at the market for some supplies. Mask requirement not enforced for locals it seems.

Happy hour after the big hike!

Williams has a bunch of motels, old and new, and a few RV parks for the Grand Canyon day trippers and the Interstate travelers. They do a nice job of marketing to the "Route 66" nostalgia crowd. We got our kicks in Williams, which was the last city on Historic Route 66 to be bypassed by Interstate 40, which occurred in 1984.

I don't know about you, but I'm gettin' outta town by sundown Janell...

COVID shot #1 in Williams!  Janell had been looking online for the past few weeks for a vaccine appointment, to no avail.  Our insurance is with Kaiser, so we are on our own for vaccine appointments while out of state. Janell happened to notice a partially obscured banner ad for Safeway COVID vaccine while playing Lexulous online on Saturday. She jumped on this and we were both vaccinated the next day!  Now we need to do the dance to get our second shot in four weeks somewhere in Colorado.

 

We drove 30 minutes to Flagstaff a couple of times. We dropped off the bikes for tune ups. They were getting a little cranky after 20 months and 1,200 or so miles of pedaling. Spending most of their time suspended from the back of the beast breathing diesel motor exhaust can't be helpful either.

Flagstaff is all in on the Route 66 hubbub too.

We walked the historic district. Very charming and lively.

Northern Arizona University is located in the heart of Flagstaff.  The undergrad student population is 26,000, in a metro area of only 140,000.  The town had a very nice vibe, outdoorsy and young. Go Lumberjacks!

Cool mural running the length of a movie theater. Strategically placed bird.

Other end of the same mural

 

 

Remember when we all had inclosed (enclosed?) steam heated garages?  Me either.

Conveniently located next door to the bike shop. Now that's what I call synergy!

New neighbors came in the day before we left Williams. We thought they were kind of creepy. But their dogs were nice.